Against Public Health

Oftentimes we see the type of character that enters into the field of public health: Highly optimistic, disgusted by the failure of authority, and having an intense desire to enact change and becoming the force by which the people are saved. Like Siddhartha Gautama, they will go into the world, see evil for the first time, and cannot help but feel as if the veil that obscured life had been lifted. They feel like the frog at the bottom of the well, having realized how small and narrow they were in their ignorance. Not to say that this is the wrong attitude to adopt -- this is still superior to the cynical and disillusioned life of someone who has seen too much. But if one reacts with moralism -- that is, in the language of should and ought, shaping the world to reflect the life at the bottom of the well, instead of with acceptance of the reality of matters and with a grasp of the long history of mankind that is required to be patient ("the long view of history"), then one may either despair or becoming impatient. In these cases, a strong will manifests, especially in the utilitarian direction (as public health tends to trend in), and the psychology of the person who emerges from this is inevitably oriented towards authoritarianism and treating individual right as mere means to an end in order to achieve practical results. It follows that the pragmatist materializes itself within these experiences. 

If only everyone did this, this, and that! We would prevent the degeneration of our society. 

But if one has any deontological intuitions about policy, then we should reject this kind of thinking. How much trampling over the rights of the people is enough for you? 

Of course, for people within public health, much like people in society, liberalism consists of the careful balancing of liberty with welfare. However, if we do not maximize one or the other, it follows that there is an external criteria by which we judge which one should be prioritized, and by how much, in these situations. At this point, a new ethical theory would be required -- one that puts forward a distinct criteria for the highest good.